Valkyrie would have given anything at that moment to run the last few hours over and over again. Gabe was adorable when you couldn't see even a hint of Archangel in him, and explaining how phones worked to someone who was millions of years old was an experience that bore repeating. But none of that - none of that - even came close to what it was like, watching Skulduggery watch Gabe.

He had a smile. And it wasn't a knowing smile, or a sarcastic smile, or a cunning one. It was simply and genuinely happy. About as close to a beam as Valkyrie had ever seen Skulduggery get with this skin. She couldn't stop watching it, didn't want to stop watching it, and she had a funny feeling that Gabe was humming half the time solely to elicit that smile.

But like all good things, it had to come to an end. Why did good things always have to come to an end? Why did bad things never come to an end? The war was supposed to be over, but there were still people who wanted the Faceless Ones back, people who were working towards that goal, and all the war remnants - like the Generals, and the Diablerie, and Vile.

And Valkyrie was about to drag her parents into the middle of it.

She looked up into Gabe's face, and took a deep breath. Not into the middle of it, she reminded herself. They weren't going to be sorcerers themselves or anything. They were just going to know the truth. More likely, they'd want to drag her out of everything. That was what she'd have to fight against.

"Actually..." Gabe didn't seem to have an issue with Valkyrie's life. Just that she was lying so often. Keeping her two lives separate. "Would you come with us, please?"

She hated how tiny her voice sounded. She hated that she didn't think taking Fletcher would be a good idea. Her parents took long enough to get over the idea that she had a boyfriend at all; dumping him on them, on top of everything else, was just unfair.

Gabe would help. Gabe would be gentle. They didn't have to know Gabe was anything more than a normal sorcerer.